Parklets
The Gettysburg Borough Council will continue the pilot parklet project into next year, although it is not yet clear how many of them there will be or which businesses will be using them.
Timbrel Wallace, owner of the Lark Gift Shop and Nerd Herd Gifts & Games addressed the council saying “I do hope the project continues into next year. We’ve been using the parklets for our shop, Nerd Herd. It’s been really helpful for us to expand outside.” Wallace said the shop was going to use a parklet for an event in October.
Main Street Gettysburg President and CEO Deb Adamik also spoke in support of the parklets, noting they were designed to help businesses during the pandemic but could be useful even past it. “Even it if were to change, the parklets could offer new opportunities beyond COVID,” said Adamik.
Councilmember Matt Moon and borough Manager Charles Gable thanked Wallace for her enthusiasm and for helping design the parklets. “We’re ahead of the curve on our designs,” said Gable.
Police Mutual Aid Agreement
The council is moving forward on a mutual aid agreement with the Cumberland County Police.
“The policy defines how the two departments are going to interact and help each other out,” said Gettysburg Police Chief Robert Glenny.
Glenny said there are frequently situations in which an officer is driving through the other jurisdiction when flagrant violations occur. Without the mutual agreement the officer would not be able to act. “This agreement allows that to be addressed,” said Glenny.
Moon questioned whether officers would follow their own jurisdiction’s policy, for instance Gettysburg’s duty to intervene, when they were in the other jurisdiction. Glenny said he wasn’t sure which policies were different between the two jurisdictions but that the policies “were all substantially similar.”
Addressing the recent loss of a police officer on the force, councilmember Chris Berger said he “was very uncomfortable with that in this time period. We should be leaving no stone unturned in finding ways to keep this force intact.”
“I’m willing to donate my salary for next year to the police department. Every penny is going to count. I’m going to be fighting for keeping our guys intact,” said Berger.
Glenny said he was “more than willing to not take a raise next year” to help keep the police force whole.
Budget Woes
Borough Manager Charles Gable reminded the community of the budget difficulties the borough is facing as a result of the COVID epidemic.
“Council made significant adjustments but the revenue is down $600,000. Obviously that’s a significant hole for this council to deal with,” said Gable.
Gable said the number of full-time employees in the borough had been reduced from 33 at the start of the year to 27 currently.
Gable said the ten nonunion employees had volunteered to increase their contributions to their healthcare plan, resulting in a savings of $540 each pay period to the borough. Gable said the borough had asked the 17 unionized employees to help in a similar way, but they had declined.
The council also moved closer to a final revision of the sidewalk ordinance.
Charles (Chuck) Stangor is Gettysburg Connection's Owner, Publisher, and Editor in Chief. I would like to hear from you. Please contact me at cstangor@gettysburgconnection.org.